Don't forget about what happened (He lived happily ever after)
by slantedknitting
Summary: Modern AU. Merlin has big dreams of starting his own company one day, but in the meantime he's working for Arthur. As they start becoming friends instead of just co-workers, it becomes more and more difficult for Merlin to convince himself that it would be worth leaving Arthur's organization to pursue his dream.


**Title: Don't forget about the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted. (He lived happily ever after.)**

* * *

**August**

Merlin stared at the spreadsheet on his computer screen unblinkingly, hoping that he could intimidate it into doing what he wanted. He had made a mistake somewhere in the formulas but he had no idea where. The assignment was over his head; he was better with people than with numbers and data. He had only recently begun writing spreadsheets himself and he still mostly made it up as he went along or spent an embarrassing amount of time looking up instructions on the internet. Usually he got help from Arthur, but Arthur was in a meeting with Uther, and those meetings had a tendency to go on for hours.

Merlin rolled his chair to the door of his small office and stuck his head into the hallway to check on Uther's door. It was still closed and the blinds were still drawn over the glass walls; there was no sign of movement inside.

Rolling his eyes, Merlin moved back over to his computer and pulled up Arthur's calendar. He was _supposed_ to be free, sitting at his desk, ready and waiting to answer all of Merlin's questions about functions and macros and micros and whatever else happened inside of spreadsheets.

If the meeting with Uther hadn't been scheduled, then it was likely that Arthur wouldn't emerge until the end of the day. Uther was the founder and executive director of the Pendragon Centre for a Fair and Better London; Arthur was his son and the director of the largest branch of the centre, which focused on adult literacy.

Merlin had been promoted to senior project manager at the beginning of June. He worked directly under Arthur and supervised all of the project managers, who in turn supervised all of the teachers and tutors and volunteers at PCFBL's various sites.

He had started out as a volunteer himself, back when he had been an idealistic uni student looking to _get involved_ and _make a difference_. Mostly, he had served coffee, offered friendly smiles to the embarrassed clients, and babysat during lessons. When his own project manager, Nimueh, found out he was getting a degree in literature, she had offered him a part-time job as a tutor. Now he was her boss.

Unfortunately, being a literature student had never given him a reason to familiarize himself with spreadsheets. He hadn't even used them much when he'd gotten his masters in nonprofit management the year before, so he was having some trouble with this aspect of his new position.

There was a knock on his doorframe and Merlin looked up to see Gwaine hovering outside his office, holding a stack of laptops.

"I'm not going to help you steal those," he said.

Gwaine gave him a wry smile. "You're funny. They should start paying you for those jokes."

"I thought they did."

"You should give them their money back. Are you free? We need help lugging these down to Leon's car."

"So, you're actually stealing them?" Merlin asked, getting up and following Gwaine.

Gwaine led him to the technology department's cave-like storage room. It was dimly lit, freezing cold, and almost impossible to navigate due to all the random piles of computers and computer pieces and cords and instruction manuals and things Merlin couldn't even identify.

"They're for the new computer site," Gwaine said, nodding toward a stack of laptops for Merlin to take. "You know, the one you've been hiring all those new teachers for."

"Oh, right," Merlin muttered. He and Percy, the project manager for the new computer literacy site, had spent the past two weeks interviewing dozens of people to fill all the positions in time for the grand opening at the beginning of September.

When they emerged from the storage room, Merlin saw Arthur closing the door to Uther's office and heading back to his own.

"Shit," he muttered, sticking his foot out to prevent the storage room door from closing behind him. "Sorry, I really need to go talk to Arthur before he disappears again." He set the laptops back down and gave Gwaine an apologetic smile. "I'll come back in a few minutes if I can."

Ignoring Gwaine's skeptical look, Merlin jogged down the hallway and knocked on Arthur's door, which was already closed.

"Yeah."

Arthur sounded tired, so Merlin opened the door cautiously. He was sitting behind his computer, staring down at the large day calendar that was spread out over most of his desk. He looked frustrated and exhausted and in desperate need of a cup of coffee.

"Do you have a minute?" Merlin asked, wondering if he should have asked Gwaine for help instead. "I messed something up on the spreadsheet."

"Which one?" Arthur asked without looking up.

"The one for July."

Arthur sighed and pushed himself out of his chair. He brushed past Merlin and Merlin followed behind, hoping that Arthur wasn't sick of his constant questions yet. He could have gone to Gwaine, but the spreadsheet was for Arthur anyway, so it made more sense to ask Arthur; that way, Merlin could be sure he was doing it exactly the way Arthur wanted. Besides, Gwaine usually laughed in his face when he admitted that he needed help with what Gwaine claimed were very simple tasks.

Merlin hovered in the doorway of his own office as Arthur settled behind his desk and clicked around on his computer for a few minutes. He watched silently, taking the opportunity to stare openly at his boss. Arthur was muscular and tanned from having spent his summer lunch breaks playing football in the park with some of the other staff members. Merlin had been invited to play almost every day but he always declined because he didn't want to embarrass himself that much in front of his co-workers; he had very little coordination and felt utterly ridiculous when he had to run in public. He had gone to the park to watch a few times, and Arthur was nothing if not coordinated. He was also graceful, surprisingly fast, and ridiculously attractive with a little dirt and sweat on his chiseled features.

When it had rained too much to play football without risk of muddying up their nice work clothes, Arthur and his mates had played Frisbee, or tossed around an American football someone had brought in, or, on one strangely adorable day, flown kites.

Merlin found Arthur sort of fascinating. He was young, only a few years older than Merlin, and energetic and athletic. He looked like he belonged on a football pitch full-time. Instead, he spent most of his time sitting in front of his computer or talking on the phone. He was always already at the office when Merlin arrived in the morning and he always stayed at work later than Merlin, even when Merlin stayed late himself. He could have been out running around in the sun or dating beautiful women or doing anything else that normal people did, but he chose to spend his time helping to run a not-for-profit organisation that served to improve his community.

Unfortunately, because he did work so much, Arthur was often moody and tired, especially toward the end of the week. He clearly didn't get enough sleep and playing football with his co-workers rarely lightened his mood for more than an hour.

Sometimes, Merlin wanted to kick Arthur and tell him to go home early, watch some telly, and have a good wank. Mostly, though, Merlin just wanted to kiss Arthur's chapped and pouty lips. He found it entirely unfair that his grumpy boss was so damn beautiful. He could have handled it if Arthur had just had a nice body from all the lunchtime sports, but he wasn't so lucky. Of course, Arthur had a jawline to die for and eyes that, when he was really happy, were bright and gorgeous and like something out of a Disney movie. He also had a mouth that Merlin couldn't stop thinking about. Merlin wanted to know how those lips would feel on his skin or how they would look after an hour of breathless, desperate kissing.

"Remind me again why I gave you this job," Arthur said as he started typing something into the spreadsheet.

"Because I'm cute?"

Arthur didn't look up but his lips quirked in a small smile and Merlin swallowed around the way his heart beat a little faster.

"You're not that cute," Arthur said quietly, but his tone was light.

Arthur left a few minutes later, after he had fixed Merlin's mistake with relative ease, and Merlin sat down, trying not to think about how the chair was warm from Arthur sitting in it.

He told himself not to dwell, but his brain wouldn't stop replaying their short exchange. Did Arthur really think that Merlin was bad at his job? Did Arthur actually think that Merlin wasn't that cute?

From there, Merlin could only go down the same path he'd been down countless times since he'd started working so closely with Arthur: was there any chance in hell that Arthur wasn't straight? If he wasn't straight, was there any chance in hell that he would ever date a co-worker? If he would date a co-worker, would he ever date someone below him, someone he directly supervised? And, if Arthur would do all those things, would Merlin actually ever attempt to date his own boss?

Merlin had gone through a thousand scenarios in his head about what it would be like to date his boss. Some of them ended with Merlin being forced to quit after a bad break-up and some of them ended with Merlin miraculously becoming the next executive director and being Arthur's boss, instead. None of the scenarios were very realistic, which led Merlin to the conclusion that dating one's boss was also not very realistic.

After exhausting all his usual trains of thought, Merlin came back to the realization that all the rest was irrelevant if Arthur was straight, and even more so if Arthur truly thought that Merlin was incompetent.

Merlin couldn't even blame Arthur if that was the case. He knew he was smart and motivated and good at his job, but he had a tendency to ramble when Arthur asked him even the simplest questions. It wasn't that Merlin was intimidated by Arthur, it was just that Arthur made him nervous. Merlin couldn't even remember the last time he had worked closely with someone _so_ attractive. His sexual energy was always at the surface and when Merlin tried to be professional about it, it bubbled over into nervous energy and he ended up making a fool of himself more often than not.

When a bang down the hall finally brought Merlin back to reality, he remembered Gwaine and guiltily hurried to take the last load of equipment down to Leon's car.

"Do you want to come along?" Leon offered when his car was fully packed. "I can give you a tour of the new place."

"And you can help unload everything again," Gwaine added.

"I wish I could," Merlin lied, "but I have to get back to work."

"No, you don't," Leon said, shrugging. "It's your workday, you can do with it what you like."

Leon was the assistant director under Arthur, so Merlin knew that he could probably go to the new computer literacy site without getting into trouble, but he still didn't want to push his luck.

"I'm already behind," he said, thinking of the spreadsheet that he'd been working on for hours. "And I don't want to make Arthur hate me more than he already does."

Gwaine and Leon laughed and Merlin stared at them, waiting for an explanation about what was so funny.

"Arthur doesn't hate you," Leon said when he finally noticed Merlin's politely confused expression. "Do you know how long it took for him to decide to offer you this job after you interviewed?"

"Three weeks?" Merlin guessed, because that's how long it had taken for Arthur to call him about the promotion.

"Five minutes," Leon corrected. "We hadn't even finished discussing your interview and he was already crossing everyone else's names off the list."

Something like pride bubbled up inside Merlin, but he quashed it. "Then why did it take so long for him to actually offer me the job?"

"We still had to interview everyone we'd scheduled," Leon explained, shrugging. "And he had to get approval from Uther and Gwen in HR. Plus, I think he liked to imagine you squirming."

"I wasn't squirming," Merlin lied. "I would have been happy staying on as a project manager for a few more years."

"Sure you would have." Gwaine rolled his eyes and sat down in the passenger's seat. "Come on, Leon. Percy's there waiting for us."

"Tell him I say hi," Merlin said as Leon got into the car.

He watched them drive off, waving, and went to get a large cup of tea before returning to work.

The line at the coffee shop was longer than he expected and during the wait he managed to convince himself to buy some muffins to go along with his tea and a coffee for Arthur.

When he got to the office, Merlin dropped off his tea and muffins on his desk and went to deliver the coffee to Arthur. Arthur's door was closed so he knocked and waited, but there was no answer.

Feeling a little silly, Merlin pressed his ear to the door. He could hear Arthur's voice but it didn't sound like there was anyone else in the room. He knocked again and then opened the door enough to be able to stick his hand through and show Arthur the coffee.

There was still no response, so Merlin glanced inside and saw Arthur sitting with his head on the desk and the phone to his ear, looking like he hated his life.

Merlin opened the door the rest of the way and quietly placed the coffee near the phone. He turned to leave but Arthur grabbed his wrist, stopping him. Merlin glanced down to see Arthur looking up at him with wide, bloodshot eyes.

'Thank you,' Arthur mouthed, squeezing Merlin's wrist a little.

Merlin smiled and shrugged, resting the urge to reach out and smooth down Arthur's rumpled hair.

Arthur let go of Merlin's wrist to pick up the coffee and Merlin backed out of the office quickly, shutting the door behind him. He retreated to his own office and closed the door, resting against it for a moment and letting himself focus on where his wrist was warm and tingling. He wondered if Arthur had noticed his pulse picking up, just from the simple touch.

Merlin sat down at his desk and started in on his muffins. He let himself dwell on the thought of Arthur's fingers on his skin, and what Leon had told him about how keen Arthur had been to give him the job, until he had finished his tea. Then he pushed everything out his mind and went back to work, determined to conquer the spreadsheet.

—**-xxx—xxx—xxx—**

When Merlin left work that evening, he headed for a restaurant where he was meeting Lance, the man who had replaced him as project manager at his old literary site, for dinner. Lance had been the head teacher before he'd stepped up to fill Merlin's shoes and he still substituted for all of the teachers and tutors at his site himself, even though it wasn't in his job description.

Lance loved teaching more than anything, and that, along with the fact that Lance was kind and generous and a little bit gorgeous, was why Merlin had approached him about starting their own not-for-profit organisation.

They had been building a business plan for a while, ever since Lance had asked what Merlin was planning on doing with his masters degree and Merlin had decided to confide in him. Lance had seemed genuinely interested in the idea and agreed readily when Merlin had asked him to join in on it.

Merlin's idea was to start something similar to the Pendragon Centre for a Fair and Better London, but smaller and more focused on a single goal. He wanted his organisation to concentrate on youth literacy, which was something PCFBL had never attempted. When he had volunteered at his first site while a uni student, part of his duty had been to entertain the children of the clients during their lessons. The site had only provided colouring books and snacks, so Merlin had bought simple children's books to read to them. It seemed logical to him; if the parents didn't know how to read, then their children most likely wouldn't, either. Even the older ones who had been in school were probably still struggling, and Merlin had never gotten it out of his head that he should be helping them as well.

Lance was already seated when Merlin arrived and it took less than a minute for their waitress to come over and take their drink orders.

"How was your day?" Lance asked once she had left them alone again.

Merlin shrugged as he looked over the menu pointlessly. He always ordered the same thing.

"It was frustrating," Merlin said, his eyes flickering over the list of salads that he had memorised months ago. "I hate spreadsheets... and Arthur."

"Still pining for him?" Lance teased.

Merlin couldn't stop himself from pouting. "It's hard not to, even when he's being a prat."

"What did he do today?"

"He asked me to remind him why he gave me my job. But then Leon told me that he knew he wanted to hire me less than five minutes after I interviewed, so..."

"So, he's flirting with you," Lance said decisively.

Merlin snorted. "No, he's just being difficult."

"He doesn't want you to know how much he likes you."

Merlin shrugged, leaning back in his chair. He didn't know what to think and he knew he could spend hours contemplating all the possibilities if he let himself. Instead, he pulled a notebook out of his bag and set it on the table.

"So, where are we on the premises? Any leads?"

Lance pulled out his own notes and ran through a list of options for possible headquarters for their organisation, but it wasn't much better than any of his previous lists. The only offices they could afford to rent were too small and too remote. Merlin was working on the details of applying for a business loan but he was hesitant to take out too much money; he didn't want to end up on the streets if their plan crashed and burned.

By the end of dinner, Merlin wasn't feeling very optimistic about their ideas. Lance had an ever-expanding collection of new and exciting techniques for teaching youth literacy, but the logistics of starting a new organisation were out of their league. Merlin knew he would need more time at PCFBL, more experience with day-to-day operations and more opportunities to explore all the different aspects of the company, before he and Lance could make their move.

—**-xxx—xxx—xxx—**

**September**

Merlin was sitting in the small staff kitchen at the computer literacy site, a 4-year-old girl balanced precariously his lap as he read to her. She kept trying to get at the cookies he hadn't had the foresight to hide, so he interrupted himself after every other sentence to push the box farther and farther away from her grasping hands.

The girl's father was in the main computer lab with Arthur and Lamia, one of the teachers, learning how to type. Despite Merlin's efforts, the site's resources for children were still limited to colouring books and juice, so Merlin was reading to her from the arts section of the newspaper. He couldn't blame her for being uninterested, but he also couldn't bring himself to give up.

"Do you want to do a puzzle with me?" he asked, flipping past a few stories on local stage plays.

"Puzzle?" the girl asked, turning to look up at him with bright brown eyes.

Merlin adjusted himself until he could spread the newspaper out over the kitchen table. "Can you count to nine?"

"One two three four five six seven... eight nine!" she recited happily.

"Very good." Merlin patted her head. "So, for this puzzle - it's called Su Doku - you have to put all the numbers from one to nine in each row of this box without repeating them. Do you think you can help me with that?"

The girl nodded her head eagerly and took the pen out of Merlin's hand, ready to add her sloppily-shaped numbers to the puzzle.

It didn't take too long for the girl to get frustrated and bored with the puzzle, but by then her father's class was over and Arthur was ushering him into the kitchen.

The man tried several times to tip Merlin for watching his daughter until Merlin explained that it was part of the volunteer services and that she was welcome back anytime.

"You should have taken the money," Arthur said when the man had left. "I wouldn't have told on you."

"Told on me to who?" Merlin asked, laughing. "You're my boss."

"I wouldn't have told on you to _my_ boss."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I would have felt bad," he explained, folding the newspaper back up. "Besides, I'm used to it."

"Used to turning down money?" Arthur teased.

"Used to watching the kids. I did it a lot when I used to volunteer."

"I know," Arthur said after a moment. "Nimueh told me you that you went out and bought children's books with your own money."

Merlin nodded. "Well, it seemed like a wasted opportunity, otherwise."

"Do you miss working with the clients?"

"Sometimes," Merlin admitted. "But it's also nice to only do it on occasion, like today."

"It's lucky you were here, then. You should have seen the panic in Percy's eyes when Mordred called in sick."

"It was fun," Merlin said, smiling. "She was adorable."

"You were very sweet with her."

Merlin found himself blushing and trying to think of something to say, but the silence between them grew and morphed into something awkward and suffocating.

Finally, Arthur shifted and pulled his keys out of his pocket. "Can I give you a ride?"

Merlin nodded and followed Arthur out of the kitchen wordlessly. They had been coming to the new site at least twice a week since it had opened, to make sure that everything was running smoothly, and Arthur always offered Merlin a ride home if they stayed until 5pm.

Merlin slid into the passenger's seat and buckled himself in, ready for yet another car ride spent debating whether or not to invite Arthur out for drinks or up to his flat for dinner. He thought about it every time he got into Arthur's car, but he could never bring himself to actually ask.

He still hadn't figured out if Arthur was straight or not. And he wasn't sure how Arthur would interpret the invitation, either. Merlin had no confidence in his ability to ask Arthur anywhere without blushing and stumbling over his words. He didn't want give himself away without knowing how Arthur felt first; he didn't want to embarrass himself if Arthur turned out to be straight or uninterested or unwilling to date someone he supervised.

He thought about Lance and Gwen from HR, who had been happily dating since right after she had hired him, and how easy they had it. They didn't work directly together or even at the same location, so there were no awkward office situations for them, no debates about ethics or proper working relationships. They just had each other and Merlin couldn't help but envy them.

"Do you mind if I turn on the radio?" Arthur asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No."

"What kind of music do you like?" Arthur asked, fiddling with the dials.

"Oh, um, anything is fine," Merlin said, surprised to have been asked.

"Do you mind opera?"

"I guess not," Merlin said, trying not to sound too disappointed.

Arthur laughed and turned on a Beatles CD instead. "I don't actually like opera," he explained. "Although I do like classical music... just never cared for all the singing."

"I don't listen to that much music," Merlin admitted, "but I love going to live shows. There are a lot of really great local bands that I see somewhat regularly. I don't own any of their albums, though, so I mostly listen to the BBC if I listen to any radio at all."

Arthur hummed thoughtfully and Merlin turned to look out his window, surprised that he blurted out so much about himself all at once. He and Arthur didn't normally talk that much during their rides. Usually Arthur would just roll the windows down and they would listen to the sounds of the city as they sat in traffic.

"I can't even remember the last concert I went to," Arthur said, sounding a little sad. "It must have been in uni or right after... I haven't been to one in years."

"You should come with me sometime," Merlin said before he could stop himself. "It's - they're lots of fun, um, and the drinks and usually cheap and - I go with some friends, some of them from the Centre, they're all really nice, you'd like them." He clamped his mouth shut and fought not to bang his head against the window from how embarrassed he was at his rambling.

"Thanks for the offer," Arthur said, his voice barely audible above the music, "but I don't think I have time."

"Right, yeah, of course, totally understandable."

"Maybe in the spring?" Arthur asked, glancing over. "If you're not sick of me by then."

"What?" Merlin asked blankly.

"If you're not sick of seeing me all the time by the spring," Arthur said slowly, "I might take you up on your offer... I'll have more free time then.

Merlin took a deep breath and tried to ignore the way his heart was pounding in his throat. "Yeah, definitely. You're welcome to join us anytime."

"Thanks." Arthur offered him a small smile.

Merlin didn't trust his face to form a normal smile so he settled for nodding his head and then turning away to gain control over himself again. He had actually done it; he had invited Arthur out somewhere. Granted, he had done it in a horribly spastic manner that left him feeling vaguely ill, but he had done it. And not only that, but Arthur had accepted the invitation. It was on hold for a few months, but there was a very real chance that Merlin would get to spend time with Arthur outside of the work day.

"What are you doing with all your free time now?" he asked, still too scattered to filter himself.

"What free time?" Arthur asked bitterly. "I haven't spent a Friday evening away from the office in weeks."

"Why?" Merlin asked, shocked. He knew that Arthur worked late but it had never occurred to him exactly _how_ late.

"I'm not really supposed to talk about it," Arthur explained guiltily.

"I know about your father retiring soon, if that's what it is."

Arthur shot Merlin a slightly panicked look. "How do you know about that?"

"Lance told me," Merlin said, shrugging. Lance had told him to keep it quiet, but he hadn't realized it was actually a secret.

"Lance? How the hell does he know?"

"Gwen told him. Um... you're not going to sack them for talking about it, are you?"

"No," Arthur said gruffly. "At least... how many other people have they told?"

"No one else," Merlin guessed. "Gwen only told Lance because they're dating and Lance only told me because we're... friends."

He had almost called Lance his _business partner_ in front of Arthur and he had to bite down on his tongue to remind himself who he was talking with. His plans with Lance were still a secret, much like Uther's retirement plans, and Arthur was the last person he wanted to find out about them. He didn't want Arthur to be upset about his plans to quit and he didn't want Arthur to laugh in his face, either. He knew he still had a lot to learn and he wasn't going to let anyone else in on his ideas until he was more confident about them.

"I'm Lance's friend," Arthur said, actually pouting. "He's never told me that he knew about it."

Merlin shrugged. "I guess he realized it was a secret."

"Unlike you," Arthur said after a moment.

"Yeah, well-"

"Wait, did you say Gwen and Lance are dating?"

Merlin slumped slightly. "You didn't know that?"

"No," Arthur said pointedly. "I didn't."

"Um."

"I can't believe he's never said," Arthur mumbled. "How long?"

"Oh, I don't, um, I'm not that close - they've never said..."

"Merlin, you're a terrible liar."

"And you're rude," Merlin accused. He didn't know why Lance and Gwen had never told Arthur about their relationship, but he wasn't going to say anything more about it. "You could at least pretend I'm a good liar and help me out of an awkward situation."

"What would be the point of that?" Arthur turned down Merlin's street and pulled into a spot right in front of Merlin's building. "Well, it's not like I can pretend I can blame them for not telling me," he said, turning down the music.

"What do you mean?"

Arthur frowned at him. "I take it you haven't actually read the employee handbook."

"Um... well, no. But I've been working there for so long-"

"There's a strict policy about dating within the organisation," Arthur cut him off. "It's left over from the days when it was just starting and there weren't that many employees and... and my mum had just died, so my dad was a bit... anti-romance, I guess. He didn't want to see anyone he worked with falling in love, so he made it a rule."

"Oh," Merlin said blankly, his heart sinking.

"It's not really enforced," Arthur continued, "at least, not out at the sites. People in the office tend to stick to it. Maybe it would be different if my dad had ever remarried, but as it is... I think everyone's afraid of him."

"He is a little intimidating," Merlin admitted. He wasn't scared of Uther but he wasn't going to go out of his way to prove it, either.

Arthur smiled ruefully. "Yes, well... that'll be the first rule to go when I'm in charge."

"You're replacing him?" Merlin asked, stunned.

Arthur groaned. "I guess Lance didn't tell you that part."

"No, he didn't. Is that why you're working so late? I assumed you were setting up interviews or working with the board or, I don't know, making sure his pension was in order or something."

Arthur shook his head. "No... I'm all approved to step up as executive director in January. There'll be a formal announcement from the board at some point, but... I've known for a while."

"And you're working so much to... prepare?"

Arthur nodded. "I just want everything to go smoothly. There are going to be a lot of transitions."

"What kind of transitions?" Merlin asked warily.

"Just staffing transitions, at first. Someone has to replace me, obviously. There'll be interviews, but... unless we have some exceptional outside applicants, it'll probably be Leon. And then someone will have to replace him... you can interview for it if you want, but we're planning on hiring someone new and you've only been at your position for a few months, anyway. How long were you a project manager for?"

"Two years."

"Right... and you were a teacher before that?"

"Assistant teacher... two years."

"And you volunteered before that?" Arthur asked, his eyebrows raised.

"I was a tutor before that... and, yeah, a volunteer before that."

Arthur shook his head. "You've worked with us longer than most of the other employees we have now, I think. Besides me and Morgana."

"Well, it's... I like it a lot," Merlin admitted. "I think literacy is really important and you have a really great way of teaching it to a lot of people, so..."

"It's good that you actually enjoy it," Arthur said appreciatively. "That's why I love the Centre... everyone cares so much about the work we do. No one's just there to make money, you know? They all want to help."

"It's a good place to work," Merlin agreed. "And you'll be a good leader."

Arthur smiled warmly. "Thank you."

There was a pause and Merlin's eyes landed, as they always did, on Arthur's lips. In a moment of madness, he thought about leaning across the car and kissing Arthur completely senseless until they were both pulling at each other's clothes and trying to maneuver themselves around the cramped front seats to get closer to each other.

Arthur licked his lips and Merlin tore his gaze away quickly, remembering where he was.

"Thanks for the ride," he said, finally unbuckling his seatbelt.

"It's no problem, you know that."

Merlin opened the door and turned to get out but paused and looked back over his shoulder. "Are you going back to the office?"

Arthur nodded. "Unfortunately."

"Well... make sure you get some sleep. It won't do the Centre any good if you're too tired to actually direct anything."

Arthur grinned. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

Merlin nodded and stepped out of the car, waving as Arthur pulled away. He checked his mail on the way to his flat, already forming a plan in his head about how he was going to buy Arthur coffee and donuts in the morning.

—**-xxx—xxx—xxx—**

By the end of the month, both Arthur and Merlin were so used to Merlin's new habit of bringing Arthur coffee in the morning that it threw both of their days off when Merlin accidentally overslept one morning. It was barely noon when Arthur burst into Merlin's office to complain about his headache.

"It's not like you can't buy it yourself," Merlin pointed out when Arthur had finished blaming him for all of the day's problems so far.

"Of course I can," Arthur said defensively, rubbing his temples. "I'm just not used to it, anymore. If you hadn't started doing it, I would have time built into my schedule to go out and buy some but I don't and... stop glaring at me. It's all your fault."

"Yes, your majesty."

Arthur rolled his eyes and checked his watch. He stared at it for so long that Merlin wondered if he was going to fall asleep on his feet right there.

Merlin cleared his throat and Arthur looked up, his eyes landing somewhere near Merlin's neck.

"Do you want to get lunch?"

"Together?" Merlin asked before he could stop himself. He blushed at how high-pitched and frantic his question had sounded. He tried to brush past it by clicking randomly around on his computer, pretending to be doing something important.

"If you don't want to..."

Arthur started edging toward the door and Merlin almost fell out of his chair as he gestured wildly that Arthur shouldn't leave.

"No, no, I want to. Of course I want to. I just wasn't - yes." Merlin took a deep breath and forced himself to look into Arthur's eyes. "Yes."

Arthur's face was blank and Merlin wondered if he was just being polite or if he actually hadn't noticed Merlin's flailing.

"Good. I have to go finish a few things... can I come back in about 15 minutes?"

Merlin nodded, not trusting his voice, and watched Arthur retreat to his own office. Trying not to get too excited, Merlin pulled out his mobile to text Lance and Freya, the new head teacher at Lance's site. They were his best friends at PCFBL and the only two people who knew about Merlin's predicament who also knew Arthur.

_I'm going to lunch with Arthur. Help. HELP._

He distracted himself as he waited for their replies by re-reading some important emails he had gotten that morning. None of the words sunk in, though, and he abandoned the task when his mobile buzzed with a new text from Lance.

_Let him pay for it._

Merlin sighed and tried not to think about what that would mean. Lance was doggedly optimistic; even when it sounded like he was being sarcastic, he was usually being honestly hopeful and positive. It was endearing and sometimes Merlin liked it, but he usually thought it was better to be more realistic.

As he was debating whether or not to text back, Freya's response showed up on his screen.

_Don't eat anything with too much sugar or anything that's too spicy or anything with garlic or onions. Don't trip over your own feet (literally). Don't ramble. JUST DON'T. Say "no" to all of your natural instincts and you'll be fine._

Merlin rolled his eyes.

_I have interacted with humans before, you know._

He checked the time and made sure his wallet was in his pocket and his suit jacket was hanging by the door. He hoped Arthur wouldn't object to Chinese food.

A knock at the door brought Merlin out of his fantasies of fried rice and he looked up to see Arthur hovering in the doorway, patting down his hair.

"Ready?"

Merlin nodded and made a point to get up from his chair slowly in order to avoid falling on his own face. As much as he hated to admit it, Freya's advice was pretty accurate. He slipped on his jacket and turned off the light as he followed Arthur to the elevators.

"What are you in the mood for?" Arthur asked, jabbing at the down arrow next to the wide doors.

Merlin's mobile buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to make sure it wasn't anything important. It was another message from Freya.

_Could have fooled me!_

"I was thinking Chinese," he said absently as he typed out a response.

_Fuck you._

He muted his mobile and put it back into his pocket as the elevator doors slid open. They stepped inside and Merlin tried not to stare too hard at Arthur's profile as they rode down to the first floor.

"Do you go to the Chinese place around the corner?"

"Usually. Their service is quick."

"Yeah, but their food is shit and they charge too much."

Merlin raised his eyebrows. "Well, if you're going to be picky about it, we can eat something else."

"There's a better place a few streets over. This way."

Merlin followed and they walked in silence. Arthur had his hands in his pockets and his eyes staring directly ahead of him. He looked serious and focused and like he didn't have time to be going out to lunch. Merlin wondered why he had even offered the invitation; he clearly had other things on his mind. He probably had a million things to do and his time was likely better spent at his desk.

The restaurant was crowded when they arrived and Merlin glanced at his watch.

"Are you sure we have time to eat here?"

Arthur laughed. "We're not going to get in trouble, Merlin. It's fine. You should relax, we're off duty."

"Does that mean I can have a beer with my lunch?"

Arthur's smile dropped immediately. "We're not that off duty."

Merlin nodded, swearing in his head for making such a stupid joke.

Arthur seemed to relax more himself once they were seated with menus. He shucked off his jacket and loosened his tie as he looked over the lunch specials. Merlin followed suit and reminded himself that Arthur was a nice and normal person, so there was no reason to be as nervous as he was.

"How do you feel about the direction of the Centre?" Arthur asked suddenly.

Merlin looked up from his menu to find Arthur staring at him intently, his own menu closed and pushed aside.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think we're doing the right things? Making the right choices?"

Arthur looked sincerely interested in Merlin's opinion, so Merlin spent a moment gathering his thoughts as he memorised his order and closed the menu before he answered.

"I think it's a really good organisation... it's structured in a really effective way and all of the staff seem competent. I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

Arthur opened his mouth to respond but then a waiter came over to take their orders and bring them tea.

"I don't think there's anything _wrong_ with the Centre," Arthur said once the waiter had left. "There's a lot of debate right now about the future. I just wanted to hear your take. You've worked your way up from the lowest position and there aren't many other staff in the main office who have done that."

Merlin tried not to blush but he knew he was smiling wider than was strictly necessary. He had always felt a little awkward in the main office, since he didn't have a background in corporate business like almost everyone else did, but Arthur was making it sound like his background was an asset.

"Well, I think the computer centre was an excellent idea," Merlin started. "It's a really great resource for a slightly different clientele than the Centre usually aims for and I think that's a good sign of positive growth in the right areas."

Arthur nodded, frowning slightly. "So you think we should expand more, target even more demographics?"

"I think we should help as many people as possible. Isn't that the point?"

"Within reason. There's no point in spreading ourselves thin if the quality of the services declines. We're very good and what we do and there's a lot to be said for staying in that area and continuing to improve."

"I'm not saying you should open up 10 more sites right now. Obviously something like that takes a lot of planning and additional staff. I'm just saying that..."

"That you're here to help people," Arthur supplied helpfully.

Merlin smiled. "Yeah. I know that sounds really... cheesy, but..."

"It's what we're all here for," Arthur assured him. "At least, it should be. I've been arguing with the board for a while about the Centre's long-term goals."

"Why? Isn't that your father's area?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "My father has effectively checked out. He's mostly just here for appearances at this point. He only has a few months left and he already knows who's going to replace him so... I've been doing most of his duties for a while."

"What about your own duties?"

Arthur shrugged, looking defeated. "Why do you think I've been working so late?"

"You're working two jobs," Merlin said as he started to understand exactly why Arthur was so often moody and exhausted. "That's a bit unfair."

"It's fine," Arthur said quickly. "I'm not complaining. I'm - I'm honoured. It's a little rough right now, but it'll be better in the new year. Then I'll just have the one job."

Merlin shook his head and sipped his tea, trying to imagine how Arthur found time to do anything but work and occasionally sleep.

"Do you ever wish someone else was taking over? What about Morgana?"

Arthur smiled, his lips tight and strained. "She wanted the position but - shit, don't tell anyone I told you that. She does like her job but..." Arthur trailed off, looking nervous.

"But she's as high up as she's going to go," Merlin finished. Morgana was Arthur's sister and director of the corporate relations side of the Centre. She oversaw all of the fundraising and business partnerships that allowed for the Centre to have so many sites and staff members.

"Exactly. I think she'll probably resign in a few months and try her hand at something else... something higher up. My father never would have let her, but..." Arthur shrugged. "I think she deserves to do what she wants. I'm not going to keep her here against her will. She might stay if... well, she might stay."

Merlin almost didn't ask, but he was curious and knew that Arthur could always refuse to tell him if it was another secret. "She might stay if what?"

"It just depends on what the board ultimately decides. Some of them want things to stay exactly the same. Some of them want the Centre to be even more corporate, and in that scenario, Morgana would probably stay on. She'd had even more responsibilities, more partnerships to maintain, more networking to do, that sort of thing. We'd have more money but we'd be more constricted in what we could do with it."

"Are those really the only two options they're debating?" Merlin asked, thinking that he was glad he had another career plan ahead of him.

Arthur shook his head. "No. A few of the trustees want to expand and do activism and... lobbying, I guess. They want the Centre to... how did Gaius phrase it... 'usher in a new era of moral policy.' I don't know, something like that. More outreach and education in the community about the needs we address and why they exist and why they're a problem. That sort of thing."

"That's a lot to take on," Merlin pointed out, even though he was impressed by the idea.

"It is," Arthur agreed. "But it's also something that's necessary. Like I said, we're very good at what we do and reaching out to our clients, but we've pretty much stopped there."

"Is that the direction you'd like to Centre to go?"

Arthur shrugged. "All of the options are good, of course. The board is even considering sites with totally new demographics."

"Such as?" Merlin asked, his heart sinking slightly.

"The youth population," Arthur said, waggling his eyebrows. "They've been kicking the idea around for years but they've always found some reason to put it off."

"Do you think they'll keep putting it off?"

Merlin couldn't help but hope that PCFBL didn't start targeting youth. He didn't want to have to compete with such a large and established organisation when he and Lance finally got their act together. He knew it was selfish to think that, especially since he was honestly just trying to help people. If the Centre could help youth effectively, they definitely should. But Merlin had always thought that his ideas would never go over well, so he had kept them to himself, with the exception of Lance. No one at the Centre had ever taken him or his opinions as seriously as Arthur was doing right then.

"I'm not sure," Arthur said, grinning as their food arrived. "To be perfectly honest, I think my father was the once influencing them on that issue."

"Why? I mean... that just seems like a strange thing to be against." Merlin hoped Arthur wouldn't take that as a sign that he wanted the Centre to go in that direction, but he was too curious to drop the subject.

Arthur waited until they were alone and then he spent a while pouring sauces over his food and preparing to eat.

"It's a personal issue for him," Arthur finally said.

Merlin nodded, confused but sensing that there was a line that Arthur wasn't going to cross with him. He turned his attention to his food and didn't attempt any more conversation until Arthur started asking him about what sort of concerts he liked to go to. Merlin was so surprised that Arthur even remembered that fact about him that he temporarily forgot about everything they had discussed about the Centre's future.

—**-xxx—xxx—xxx—**

**October**

Lance and Gwen showed up at Merlin's flat inexcusably early on a Saturday morning and by the time Merlin had drunk enough of the coffee they'd brought to function properly, Lance was spreading paperwork all over Merlin's kitchen table.

"Are you buying a house or something?" Merlin asked, staring blearily down at all the forms. He hadn't been awake for more than ten minutes and his vision still hadn't cleared.

"It's not for us," Gwen explained, "it's for you."

"Me?"

"You and Lance."

Merlin leaned over the table and skimmed over the documents. There were blueprints and leasing statements and what looked like several contracts.

"What is this?" he asked, setting his coffee down. It splashed onto one of the documents and Lance grabbed the paper off the table quickly, wiping it on his shirt.

"I found the _perfect_ office for us. It's centralised, it's big enough that we won't have to move out of it too quickly if we expand, it's in a fancy building, it's reasonably priced... it's _perfect_, Merlin, it's fucking-"

"I get the picture," Merlin said, laughing at Lance's frenzied expression. "How much coffee have you had?"

"You don't want to know," Gwen said, stepping up behind Lance and wrapping her arms around his middle. She rested her chin on his shoulder and gave Merlin a baleful look. "It's probably enough to give him a heart attack if you say no to this place."

Merlin looked back down at the table warily. "How much is it?" When he got no response, he looked back up at his friends. "How much?"

"It's really reasonable for what it is and where it is," Lance said, his eyes bulging.

"How much?" Merlin repeated, looking at Gwen this time.

"More than you afford right now," she said, squeezing Lance.

"Lance-"

"Just hear me out!" Lance shoved the blueprints at Merlin and Merlin dutifully looked them over while Lance rambled. "Gwen said she'll help us hire some people for free. And most of the tutor's at the Centre are part-time, so we could probably convince a lot of them to work part-time for us, doing more or less the same thing. If we use our connections the right way, we'll be a huge success and the business loan will be paid off in no time. We'll be rich! And we'll be helping so many people! Not just the kids, but the staff, too! You know how many of the tutors complain they can't get full-time jobs. They won't even have to get full-time jobs if they work with us. We can build our schedules around theirs and offer special full-time hours in the summer and we can probably get interns from the universities, people who are studying education, and they'll be more inclined to work with us than the Centre because they're probably looking to teach kids in the long run, anyway, and Merlin, please, you have to, this place is perfect, you have to at least come look at it with-"

Gwen clapped her hand over his mouth. "Breathe, Lance."

Merlin set down the blueprints and sighed. "Okay. I promise to look at the space if you promise to get out of my flat before your pass out from the crash of your insane caffeine high."

Lance flung himself at Merlin, forcing Gwen to let go of him.

"You won't regret this," he insisted.

"You're going to break one of my ribs," Merlin wheezed.

Lance stepped back and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm just - I'm so excited. You have no idea how excited I am!"

"I think I can see how excited you are," Merlin said, trying not to laugh. "But, Lance... you know we're not ready yet, right?"

"This lease wouldn't even start until January," Lance said dismissively.

Merlin felt his eyes widen. "January? Lance, that's nowhere near enough time!"

"It's enough time if we say it's enough time."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Are you going to let him contradict me like that?" Lance asked Gwen.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "I'm never letting you drink this much coffee ever again."

Lance pouted and turned back to Merlin. "You have to think about everything I said. The part-time tutors, the university interns... everything. It'll be fine. It'll be_great_."

"If we start stealing tutors from the Centre-"

"Not stealing! Borrowing! Well, no, not even borrowing. We'll be _sharing_ the tutors with them. Very diplomatic."

"Yes," Merlin agreed hesitantly. "But that will involve working with the Centre itself. We'd have to form some sort of partnership if we're 'sharing' so many employees."

Lance shrugged. "So?"

"So, do you really think Arthur will want to partner with us after we quit?"

"We just have to be diplomatic, like I said."

Merlin scrubbed his hands over his face. "Okay. Well... I will think about it."

Lance enveloped Merlin in another enthusiastic hug. "You won't regret this!"

"I'm not promising anything," Merlin said sternly, pushing Lance away. "Just set up a time for me to go look at it and we'll go from there. All right?"

Lance nodded happily and started gathering up all the papers again. He started describing what the office looked like, but Merlin tuned him out and went back to his coffee. When everything was safely back inside Gwen's bag and Merlin had escorted them to his door, Lance grabbed Merlin by the shoulders.

"You are the best business partner a man could ever have," Lance said, staring unblinkingly into Merlin's eyes.

"I hope you avoid coffee for several months after this," Merlin said seriously, "for your heart's sake."

Lance leaned forward and pressed a wet, coffee-tasting kiss on Merlin's dry lips. "I love you," he said, sounding crazed.

"That's our cue to leave," Gwen said, clearly holding back a laugh. She guided Lance out the door and down the hallway, turning back to wave at Merlin as they left.

Merlin shook his head and closed the door, leaning back against it for a few moments. He and Lance had never discussed an exact timeline for their plans, but he felt like it was moving too quickly. He was still getting used to his current position at the Centre and he hadn't fully taken advantage of being in the main office, yet. He wanted more time to explore the inner-workings of a successful not-for-profit organisation and, even though he would never admit it to Lance, more time to work with Arthur.

He loved working with Arthur almost as much as he fancied Arthur, and that was a lot. Arthur was a supportive and encouraging supervisor, when he had the time. He only had a handful of people reporting directly to him, but he always put for the effort to check in with them multiple times throughout the day. Arthur usually tried to pay extra attention to Merlin because he was still new, and Merlin appreciated the gesture. They were even becoming something close to friends; most weeks, they had lunch together at least once, and Arthur had started making the afternoon coffee run in return for Merlin doing so in the morning. They had a good routine worked out, even though Arthur seemed to be getting more run-down and exhausted by the day.

Merlin knew that Arthur didn't have time for friends outside of work and he was hesitant to leave the Centre because of it, even though he was still invested in his plans with Lance.

Pushing off the door with a sigh and heading toward his shower, Merlin tried not to beat himself up for being so selfish. He hadn't chosen this career path so he could flirt with his co-workers. He was trying to help his community and he couldn't do that to the best of his ability if he stayed at the Centre. He owed it to Lance and to the children of the Centre's clients that he had tried so hard to help - he owed it to _himself_ to follow-through on his plans for his own organisation. It was the best decision in the long run, even if he lost Arthur on the way.

—**xxx—xxx—xxx—**

"You look like you're dying," Merlin said flatly when Arthur came into his office late on a Thursday afternoon with a small cup of coffee.

"Sorry it's not more." Arthur set the coffee down on Merlin's desk, ignoring his comment. "I forgot to take my wallet and that was all I could afford with the change in my pockets."

Merlin frowned and looked closer at Arthur's face. He had huge, dark circles under his heavy-lidded, unfocused eyes.

"Did you get one for yourself?"

"No, that was all I could get. It's fine, though."

Merlin picked up the cup and held it out for Arthur to take. "Have it, I don't need it."

"I bought it for you."

"I wasn't kidding when I said you look like you're dying. You clearly need this more than I do."

Arthur frowned and took the coffee slowly out of Merlin's hand. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Arthur sat down in the only other chair in Merlin's office and sipped at the coffee. "Thanks. I'm sorry... I'll remember to bring my wallet tomorrow."

"It's not the end of the world," Merlin assured him. "How late are you planning on staying tonight?"

Arthur rubbed his eyes absently. "Tonight. Um... it's Thursday, let's see..."

"You don't even know?"

Arthur shook his head. "It's on my calendar, but I can't remember off the top of my head."

"If you can't remember then it's clearly not important. You should leave at five, like the rest of us."

"You know I can't do that."

"Yes, you can. You're the boss, remember? You can do whatever you want. Besides, you clearly need a full night's rest. When was the last time you got more than six hours of sleep?"

Arthur shrugged. "Sometimes I sleep late on the weekends."

"What do you consider 'late?'"

"Eight o'clock."

Merlin shook his head. "Okay, let's make a deal. You can stay late tonight but you have to leave at five tomorrow. _And_ you have to come to a show with me and my friends."

Arthur pulled a face. "What am I getting out of this 'deal?'"

"You get to stay late tonight," Merlin repeated, "to do whatever unimportant things are on your calendar. But tomorrow night you are relaxing like a normal human being." Arthur's lips were twitching and Merlin knew he had won. "When was the last time you spent time with your friends outside of work?"

"I don't even have friends outside of work," Arthur mumbled. He looked up and gave Merlin a sad smile. "You have a deal."

Merlin grinned and reached across his desk to shake Arthur's hand. "Wonderful."

Arthur shot Merlin a wide smile before standing and excusing himself back to his office. As soon as he was gone, Merlin pulled out his mobile to text Lance and Freya.

_Arthur is coming to the show tomorrow night._

Lance responded almost immediately.

_You asked him out?_

Merlin blushed even though there was no one around to see him.

_No! I just invited him as friends. We're all friends. It's a friendly event. SHUT UP._

Feeling that he should have known better than to tell Lance anything about his budding friendship with Arthur, Merlin muted his mobile and put it back in his pocket.

He worked diligently for the rest of the afternoon and all of the next day, determined not to let himself think too much about the fact that he was going to be spending time with Arthur that night. Every time he remembered, he would get nervous and flustered and completely distracted from what he was supposed to be doing.

At five o'clock, Merlin gathered all of his things and went to Arthur's office. The door was closed and the blinds were drawn, which usually meant that Arthur didn't want to be bothered, but Merlin knocked anyway.

"Go away, Merlin."

Merlin grinned and opened the door. Arthur was sitting at his desk with his eyes glued to his computer.

"You are incapable of following even the simplest directions," Arthur complained without looking up.

"And you are incapable of leaving work at a reasonable hour."

"I have things to do."

"They can wait until Monday."

"Merlin-"

"We made a deal, remember?"

Arthur took a deep breath and looked up at Merlin with worried eyes. "Give me 5 more minutes?"

"You're hopeless. Fine. I'll run to the loo but you had better be ready to leave when I get back."

Merlin dumped his stuff in a chair and went to relieve himself. When he came back, Arthur was still sitting at the computer, but he did have his jacket on.

"Come on." Merlin took the mouse out from under Arthur's hand and leaned over the desk to look at the screen. He saved everything Arthur was working on and shut down the computer, ignoring Arthur's obviously half-hearted protests.

"You're a horrible person," Arthur complained when the computer screen turned black.

"So are you," Merlin said mildly. "Come on, up you get." He tugged at Arthur's sleeve until Arthur pulled his arm out of reach and stood up. "You can give me a ride home, if you like."

"Oh, can I? How thoughtful of you."

"This is going to be fun," Merlin said, his whole body buzzing with nervous energy as they approached the elevators. "I can't wait to see you drunk."

"I'm not getting drunk. Oh, I invited Leon... is that all right?"

"Is he your date?" Merlin asked before he could stop himself.

"What? No!"

"Then of course it's all right!" Merlin gave Arthur what was probably a very manic grin before stepping onto the elevator. "The more the merrier, as they say. Lance is going... plus Gwen and Freya and my friend Will. He used to volunteer with me when we were at uni, but now he works in publishing."

"Did you tell Lance I'm coming?"

"Yeah. I also told him that you know about him and Gwen, so hopefully it won't be awkward."

"That's good," Arthur said, apparently to himself. He led the way to his car once they got off the elevator and they rode toward Merlin's flat in relative silence.

When they stopped in front of Merlin's building, Merlin asked for Arthur's mobile so he could type out a note with the time and location of the concert.

"I'll probably get there around 8 but it doesn't start then, so you could aim for 8:30, if that's better for you," he explained absently as he put the information on Arthur's mobile.

"What am I supposed to do until 8:30?" Arthur asked, sounding almost scared.

Merlin looked up, surprised. "I don't know, what do you usually do with your free time? What do you do on Saturdays and Sundays?"

"I work."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Okay. Well, under no circumstances are you doing any more work today. You are going to go home and take a nap or watch telly or have a long bath or, I don't know, whatever it is you can think of that is relaxing and has nothing to do with the Centre. Do you think you can handle that?"

"I'm not a child," Arthur protested. "Of course I can handle that."

Merlin handed over the mobile. "Good. I'll see you in a few hours. Call if you get lost or something."

He got out of the car and waved as Arthur pulled away, honestly hoping that Arthur wasn't going to go home and start working.

Once he was inside his flat, Merlin showered and ate a quick dinner of salad and toast. Then Freya came over and they spent the rest of the time until the show arguing over what Merlin should wear. Merlin wanted to wear something he felt comfortable in, but Freya kept insisting that he treat the evening as a date and wear something less casual.

In the end, they compromised. Merlin got to wear his favourite pair of jeans and an old button-down that Freya grudgingly accepted as a step above casual. He did let her style his hair and, as a result, he left his flat feeling like he was wearing a bird's nest on his head. He had textbook sex hair and, in his opinion, looked ridiculous. He also couldn't help but hope that Arthur wouldn't assume that he'd actually had sex, especially not with Freya.

The venue was still being set up when Merlin and Freya arrived, so they hovered near the bar, sharing a beer and eating most of the peanuts that had been set out. Leon was the next to arrive and Merlin was surprised to see him looking so casual and relaxed. Leon was Arthur's right-hand man, even though they seemed to never physically work together. Their relationship was conducted mostly via text message and email; Leon was always the one running around and actually doing things, while Arthur stayed in his office to make decisions and delegate tasks. Usually, Leon was very serious and composed, but as soon as he arrived, he started joking and laughing with Freya, whom he barely knew.

Lance showed up next and immediately started making fun of Merlin's hair, so Merlin excused himself to the loo to fix it, ignoring Freya's loud complaints. When he returned, both Gwen and Arthur had joined the group at the bar.

Arthur was wearing dark jeans that clung to his lower body in almost obscene ways and a sweater that made it painfully obvious he hadn't been to a concert in years and had forgotten how warm they tended to be once a crowd formed.

As Merlin approached, trying and failing not to stare at Arthur's arse, Arthur was refusing the beer that Leon had apparently bought him.

"Here," Leon said, shoving the bottle at Merlin. "Arthur's being a loser, so you can have this."

Merlin nudged Arthur's arm with the beer. "Do you want to share? I've already had half of another one."

Arthur eyed the bottle suspiciously. "I don't want to get drunk."

"Have you ever had beer before?" Merlin asked incredulously. "Half of one isn't going to get you anywhere near drunk."

Arthur rolled his eyes and grabbed the bottle, taking a sip to make a point. Merlin grinned and let Arthur hold onto the beer, purposely forgetting to drink his half.

By the time Merlin's friend Will arrived, the opening act was almost over and Arthur was finishing his second beer. He and Merlin were still hovering near the bar even though everyone else had moved closer to the stage. Lance had given Merlin a wink over his shoulder as he'd headed toward the front of the venue with Gwen, and it had taken all of Merlin's willpower not to lock himself in the loos for the rest of the night.

"Here you are!" Will announced himself by giving Merlin a hug from behind and kissing his cheek. "Where's everyone else?"

"Up front," Merlin said, trying to decipher the look on Arthur's face. "This is Arthur."

Will let go of Merlin in a hurry. "I forgot you said he was coming. Sorry about that, I'm Will." He held his hand out and Arthur shook it without smiling or saying anything.

Merlin watched helplessly as Will and Arthur tried to muddle through a conversation. Arthur seemed tensed and confused, probably because he thought that Will was Merlin's boyfriend and was wondering why Merlin had never mentioned him before. Will became increasingly frustrated with Arthur's unwillingness to open up, which just made Arthur even more prickly, until they were both practically scowling at each other.

Finally, Arthur excused himself to the loo and Will rounded on Merlin as soon as he was out of sight.

"Why the fuck do you fancy him? He's a prat!"

"He's not a prat, he's just... I don't know, shy or something. He's a really good person once you get to know him."

"'Good people' aren't that rude."

"He wasn't - okay, fine, he was being a little rude, but I think he was just upset because he thinks you're my boyfriend."

"Why would he think I'm your boyfriend?" Will asked, looking alarmed.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I don't know, maybe because you _kissed me_ right in front of him."

"On the cheek! Besides, it's none of his business even I was your boyfriend."

"He probably thinks I never mentioned you because we're not really friends or something. He didn't even know Gwen and Lance were together until I told him last month."

"I thought he and Lance were mates."

"They are, that's the point. I guess no one tells him this sort of thing."

Will snorted. "What a delicate flower."

Merlin punched his arm. "Shut up. This is all your fault."

"It is definitely not my fault that your boss is so sensitive."

"He's not my boss," Merlin said quickly. "Not tonight. Tonight, we are just friends."

"Friends, right. Well, speaking of friends, he's on his way back over. Want me to tell him I'm straight?"

Merlin shook his head frantically. Will _was_ straight, but he didn't need Will to advertise that on his behalf.

"The toilets here are disgusting," Arthur said, taking his spot next to Merlin and scrunching up his nose. "I feel like the smell went right through my clothes and into my skin."

Merlin leaned over to sniff Arthur's shoulder. "You smell fine to me."

Arthur's mouth dropped open and Merlin blushed furiously as his actions caught up with his brain and he realized what he'd just done.

"Well," Will said loudly, "I'm going to go find someone to dance with." He saluted them both before turning and making his way into the crowd.

Merlin watched Will disappear, wishing the crowd would swallow him up, too.

"So... he's not your boyfriend, then?" Arthur asked slowly.

Merlin kept his eyes on the dancing masses as he answered. "No, he's my best mate... known him forever... he's straight, actually."

Arthur said something at the same time as the song ended and the crowd burst into loud applause.

"What?" Merlin shouted to be heard over the noise.

Arthur moved in close and put his mouth right up to Merlin's ear and Merlin had to lock his knees to keep them from buckling.

"Do you want to share another beer?" he asked, his lips brushing against the shell of Merlin's ear.

Merlin nodded without thinking and only let himself breathe again when Arthur had stepped away to order at the bar. He felt hot all over.

Arthur came back a minute later and handed Merlin the beer, letting him have the first taste. They passed it back and forth for a while, listening to the music and not talking or looking at each other.

When the band took a break and the crowd headed back toward the bar, Merlin and Arthur stepped to the side to avoid being crushed.

"How often do you do this?" Arthur asked, watching the slight chaos.

"Usually at least once a month. Someone's always going to a show, but exactly who and how many just depends on the week. It's a rotating group, which is a really great way to meet people. Sometimes Lance brings friends, or Freya... Will's my friend and he comes to a lot of shows with us."

Arthur nodded and drained the last few drops of beer even though the bottle had been mostly empty for a while.

"It must be nice," he said, staring down into the bottle, "having something like this."

"You have it now, too," Merlin pointed out. "You've been officially initiated so you're invited anytime you like."

Arthur glanced up and gave Merlin a sad half-smile that Merlin wanted to kiss right off his pouty face. "Do you think it's awkward, me being the boss and trying to... 'hang out' with everyone?"

"No," Merlin said honestly. "I don't think anyone cares that much. Lance is Freya's supervisor and they hang out all the time. You just have to be yourself and not act like you're better than them."

"I don't do that," Arthur said, frowning. "Much. Do I?"

"Not much," Merlin teased, resting a hand on Arthur's arm to reassure him. "Don't worry about it. Everyone likes you and you deserve to have a night off once in a while."

Arthur nodded vaguely. "Yeah. It's... it's nice to relax."

Merlin couldn't hold back his grin. "I'm glad you're having fun. Now we just have to work on you getting out more. When was the last time you did something like this?"

Arthur shrugged. "It's been a while since I've had time... most of my non-work friends got sick of me ages ago. Or I got sick of them, whichever happened first."

"Well, you have us now." The band came back on stage and the crowd filtered slowly away from the bar. "Another beer?" Merlin asked once the bartenders seemed less swamped.

Arthur agreed and Merlin considered buying two, but he liked sharing with Arthur. Every time they passed the bottle between them, their fingers would brush and Merlin was tipsy enough to admit that it made him sort of giddy, even though he knew it really wasn't anything to get excited about.

"I thought you didn't want to get drunk," he said when Arthur took a long gulp of the beer as soon as he returned.

"I'm not drunk, I'm just enjoying myself." Arthur handed the bottle back over. "Is everyone else still up at the front?"

"Probably. We can go find them if you want."

Arthur shook his head. "No, I don't mind. It's better back here... less noisy."

"Much easier to talk," Merlin agreed. "Besides, this a welcome break from dealing with the happy couples... now it's Leon's turn."

"Happy couples," Arthur repeated blankly. "Are Freya and Will together?"

"No. Well, not yet. They've been..." Merlin gestured vaguely with the beer. "They'll get there eventually."

Arthur nodded and pulled the bottle out of Merlin's hand, his fingers dragging over Merlin's. "What about you?"

Merlin raised an eyebrow as Arthur took a drink. "What about me?"

"Are you in a 'happy couple' situation?"

Merlin felt his ears burning. "No, I don't - there aren't any, um - it's hard to find someone... who's good enough, I guess." He grabbed the beer back and took a long swig to keep himself from saying anything else.

"I know what you mean. My last boyfriend was a complete waste of my time."

Merlin almost choked but managed to swallow before spewing beer all over the floor. "What?" he gasped.

"He never listened to anything I said," Arthur elaborated. "I showed him a _million_ times how to take care of my cast-iron pots and pans but he _always_ washed them with soap if I didn't stop him in time."

Merlin gaped at Arthur, his mind reeling with finally having proof that Arthur wasn't straight.

"It was a stupid reason to break up with him," Arthur admitted, apparently misinterpreting Merlin's shock as judgement. "But he wasn't a keeper, anyway, so..."

Arthur smiled self-consciously and Merlin grinned wildly back at him, trying to cover up his awkwardness and reassure Arthur.

"Yeah, he sounds like... like a jerk."

Arthur laughed, looking relieved. "Yeah. He was."

"It happens to the best of us. I once dated a guy who blew off one of our dates because he was too lazy to press pause on his video game and get off the couch."

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Okay, you win the prize for dating the biggest loser."

Merlin pretended to pout. "To be fair, we were only 17. It's not like we were meant to be mature and responsible adults yet. How old were you when you dated the cast-iron guy?"

"It was only a couple months ago. I haven't had time to date anyone since then."

"Yeah... I didn't even know you were - that you dated men."

When Arthur didn't respond right away, Merlin tried to come up with some sort of apology for getting too personal, but all he could think to do was take another drink.

"I try to keep my personal and professional lives separate," Arthur finally said. "Although, I guess that might change if I start doing this more often."

"You should," Merlin said quickly, eager to change the subject. "You definitely should. We should stop talking about work stuff, though. That's not what we're here for."

Arthur nodded. "Right. Yes. No more work talk." He took the beer from Merlin and had a few sips before admitting, "I don't actually have anything else to talk about."

"Then we don't have to talk," Merlin pointed out. "We should go join the crowd. This band's actually pretty good."

"Yeah, I like them so far."

Merlin grinned and led Arthur toward the stage, pushing past people until there was no more room and they were forced to stand in close quarters, their shoulders pressed firmly against each other as the crowd swayed them in time to the music.

—**xxx—xxx—xxx—**

**November**

After Lance had confirmed a Tuesday afternoon showing with the real estate company, Merlin scrambled to get all of his work done in the morning and then pretended to be coming down with a cold so that Arthur would let him leave early. He met Lance outside the prospective office a few minutes later, trying not to be too hopeful about the place. From everything he had been told about it, it seemed too good to be true, even with the high rental costs.

The agent gave them a thorough tour of the space, pointing out all of the perks (private offices and conference rooms as well as several areas for cubicles, two kitchenettes, a cleaning service and security guards that contracted with the entire building, beautiful views out the many windows) and repeatedly referring to the office as "affordable." Merlin didn't want to disagree with her, but he couldn't help but roll his eyes the fifth or sixth time she mentioned it.

Once their tour was over and she had answered Lance's long slew of questions, she left them alone to explore and discuss it on their own.

"I told you it was perfect," Lance said excitedly once she was gone. "You can't say anything negative about this place."

"It's... ideal," Merlin said slowly. "But it's still too expensive."

"It's an investment," Lance agreed. "The more we put into it, the more we'll get out of in the long run. We're not going to find a better space than this, Merlin. If we don't act now, it's going to slip by and it could be _years_ before something this good comes along again."

Merlin ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Lance was right; he _knew_ Lance was right. If they got a good enough loan, this office would be more than perfect. They wouldn't need room for cubicles, so they could turn that space into at least two classrooms. The conference rooms could be used as tutoring spaces. The private offices were large enough that they could be shared or used as a prep/break room for the teachers. There were so many options and he was already visualising what they could do with every inch of space in the office.

"I guess..." Merlin swallowed heavily. "I guess we're doing this."

Lance grinned so wide that it looked painful and flung his arms around Merlin.

"That's settled, then," he said, stepping back cheerfully. "Now there's only one more matter to take care of."

"The loan," Merlin groaned.

"No. Well, yes, that. Two more matters, I guess."

"What's the second one?"

"You have to tell Arthur."

Merlin looked away. "Eventually."

"No," Lance said, so stern that Merlin turned back to him. "You have to do it now."

"Why?"

"I may or may not have let our plans slip to Leon at that concert."

Merlin groaned. "Lance-"

"I asked him not to tell Arthur yet, and as far as I know, he hasn't. But you should be the one tell him. You're mates and he's your boss and he deserves to know."

Merlin nodded miserably. As usual, Lance was right, and now Merlin was going to have to deal with the consequences of his dream. He was going to have to tell Arthur that he was leaving PCFBL to create what could potentially be a rival organisation. Even worse than that somehow, was the fact that he was leaving Arthur. Once Merlin quit, they wouldn't see each other every day, or bring each other coffee, or go out to lunch every week. They would go their separate ways and possibly never even see each other again.

"You knew this would come eventually," Lance said gently, pulling Merlin out of his thoughts.

Merlin nodded again and looked around their future office, trying to fill himself with inspiration and hope. "You're right," he said bracingly. "It's time to do this."

Lance held out his hand, smiling. "Partners?"

Merlin returned the smile and shook Lance's hand tightly. "Partners."

—**xxx—xxx—xxx—**

Merlin spent the rest of the week debating exactly how to tell Arthur about his plans. He wanted to be sure to do in a way that didn't make it sound like he disliked the Centre or was being disloyal to the organisation that had offered him so much. He didn't want Arthur to be offended or feel betrayed; he had to find a way to explain himself that made it clear he was just trying to help more people and further his own career in the most effective way he knew how.

By Thursday afternoon, he had a pretty good idea about how he was going to phrase everything, but he still wasn't decided on how or when he was going to do it. He thought about setting up a meeting with Arthur during the business day or waiting until the next concert Arthur was free for. He thought about writing it all out in an email or a formal letter. He even thought about begging Leon to tell Arthur for him.

In the end, he knew that Arthur deserved to hear the truth from him, both as an employee and as a friend. He decided to do it that Friday during their weekly lunch.

The Chinese restaurant was even more crowded than usual and Merlin almost lost his nerve during their wait for a table. To occupy and prepare himself, he pulled out his mobile and scrolled through his list of points to make. He had them memorised already but reading over them again was calming and a good reminder about why he was doing what he was doing and why it was actually a good thing, even though part of him felt sad about it.

"You look strangely nervous," Arthur said when they were finally seated and had ordered. "You're not still sick, are you?"

"Um... no. Although, I guess that's a good enough place to start as any." Arthur raised his eyebrows, looking politely inquisitive. Merlin set his mobile down on the table and gave his list one last glance. "I wasn't actually sick on Tuesday. I was with Lance, looking at office real estate."

He paused to gauge Arthur's reaction, but Arthur's expression didn't change.

"I don't understand."

"Well, we... we're hoping to go into business together."

Arthur's eyebrows moved up even further. "Business?"

"Yes. We want to open up a new, um... a new centre, not unlike the ones run by PCFBL, but one that focuses exclusively on youth literacy."

Arthur's brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to say something, but Merlin cut him off, determined to say everything he wanted to first.

"It's just, when I was a volunteer and a tutor, I always thought it was a shame that nothing was being offered to the children of our clients. I made a point to work with them on reading skills and I know for a fact that a lot of them struggled more than the average child, and it has everything to do with their parents. If the parents can't read, then they're obviously not going to be teaching their children how to read. A lot of their homes probably don't even have books in them. And I just kept thinking that there was this huge void in our services and a very real need for help and - and so Lance and I are going to start our own organisation to, um... to address those needs. At least, we're going to try. We found an office and we're going to start working on getting a business loan so we can afford the rent on it."

Merlin took a deep breath and checked his mobile to make sure he'd covered everything.

"Oh, and - I just think that my skills - I mean, obviously I have better people skills than spreadsheet skills, but I like to think I've been learning a lot since I started at the main office, and I think that my skills - I think, in the end, it's just another really good way to help people, and that's all I'm trying to do."

"You don't have to defend yourself," Arthur said quietly. "I think it's a wonderful idea. And you have been learning... you've grown a lot in the past few months... I wish you would stay so you could grow more and help us improve our own sites, but I'm not going to hold you back from this. Obviously you've been thinking about this for years and of course it's a good cause, so if there's anything I can do to help, any advice I can give..."

Merlin swallowed around the lump in his throat, strangely touched that Arthur was offering him anything after he'd just announced his plans to quit.

"Thank you. That's immensely kind of you."

Arthur gave him a tight-lipped smile. "I know I told you that youth literacy was a personal issue for my father, but the truth is that it's a personal issue for me as well. I couldn't really read until I was about 10 or so, and it caused a lot of problems in my house. The Centre was already well-established by then and it was a bit of a scandal for the founder to have an illiterate child, you know? He hired all the best tutors and eventually I... I figured it out, but it took a long time and it really affected me, especially at school with the other kids. My worst nightmare was being called on by the teacher to read aloud. It was so embarrassing but my father always seemed to think that it was more embarrassing for him, somehow. He never took any steps to include youth in the Centre's target demographics and I think it's because he felt like... if he didn't do it for his own son, he couldn't do it for anyone else's son. He was worried that if he did something so belatedly that there was going to be some sort of backlash if the truth got out."

"I had no idea," Merlin said unnecessarily.

Arthur shrugged. "Well, I can read now, obviously. Very well, in fact," he added with a smile. "Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I really do support this idea of yours. It means a great deal to me, personally, and I honestly mean it when I say that you can come to me for anything you need in the process of starting this up. Even after you've left the Centre and you're out on your own, you can always come back for advice or if you want to form a partnership or get in touch with our funders... anything at all, I'm more than willing to help."

"Thank you," Merlin said, feeling those words weren't enough. "I really appreciate it."

Arthur smiled sort of sadly and their conversation paused as their food was delivered and Arthur went through his usual routine of pouring sauce over all of it.

"I'll be sad to see you go," Arthur said after a few minutes of them eating in silence. "I really enjoy working with you, and... well, you know how much time I have for friends outside of work."

"You'll just have to come to more shows," Merlin said, trying not to read into Arthur's words too much. Thoughts of 'maybe, _maybe_' flittered through his mind and he pushed them away impatiently. "We'll just have to make time."

Arthur's lips quirked and Merlin could see a hint of a blush on his cheeks. "Yes," he agreed, "we'll just have to make time."

Merlin grinned and lifted a forkful of fried rice in a mock toast to solidify their pledge to stay friends. Arthur did the same and gave Merlin a winning smile before they ended the discussion and focused on their lunch.

—**xxx—xxx—xxx—**

**December**

Mid-way through December, Merlin was still undecided about attending the office Christmas party. He and Lance had been approved for their loan and they were both spending every possible spare moment on networking with anyone who seemed likely to give them funding or a grant or any type of help at all. They had both given Arthur their official notices about leaving the Centre, citing 31 December as their last day, even though the Centre would be closed for the holidays by then.

Merlin was developing an appreciation for how exhausted Arthur was all the time from splitting his energy between two jobs. He didn't mind it that much, especially because it meant that his dream was about to come true and once the new year started, he would be able to focus himself completely on his own organisation. He would get to call all the shots and decide how he spent his time, instead of it being dictated to him.

What Merlin did mind was Arthur's attitude as the month progressed. He had been adamant about helping Merlin in any and every way, but each time Merlin went to him with a specific request, Arthur hesitated to offer anything concrete. He wouldn't give Merlin any specific contacts with their business partners and told him to wait a few months before approaching Morgana about it, he wouldn't officially agree to form even an informal partnership when it came to part-time tutors, and he refused to offer his own personal story about struggling with literacy as inspiration to Merlin's future staff.

Merlin was getting more and more frustrated by the day. Arthur's professional distance was mirrored by his personal distance, and by the Friday of the Christmas party, it had been weeks since he'd had lunch with Merlin.

Merlin didn't know what to make of the situation. Some days, he couldn't tell if Arthur was genuinely busy and distracted by the fact that he himself was weeks away from being executive director of the Centre, or if Arthur was revealing his true feelings about Merlin's plans. There had been no talk about who would replace Merlin and, as far as Merlin knew, no interviews for the position had even been scheduled. The whole thing was making Merlin feel like a traitor for abandoning the organisation and Arthur in such a time of need and change; he was starting to feel guilty about leaving, even though he knew there was no logical reason for him to feel that way.

He still wasn't decided by the day of the holiday party, even though every staff member he passed in the hallway had been asking him about it all week. Most of him wanted to go, to spend time with his friends and take advantage of the free food and alcohol. Another part of him wanted to be bitter and never show up, just to spite Arthur.

In the end, Leon intervened and personally escorted Merlin across the street to the banquet hall that Uther had rented out for his last Christmas party as executive director. The hall was lavishly decorated and there were several bars set up around the room and _two_ chocolate fondue fountains that immediately made Merlin glad he'd let Leon talk him into going.

"Arthur's looking for you," Leon said, looking at his mobile.

Merlin forced himself to look away from the nearest fondue fountain. "What?"

"Arthur's looking for you," Leon repeated mildly, showing Merlin the text. "He's in the hallway near the kitchen."

"Is it work-related?" Merlin asked warily. "I'm just here to eat and have fun."

Leon gave him an indulgent smile. "Just go find him."

Merlin narrowed his eyes, realising that Leon had tricked him, but went off in search of Arthur, anyway. He took a long detour to one of the bars and got himself a brightly-coloured cocktail before stepping into the hallway.

Both Arthur and Lance were there, chatting casually in the small space.

"What is this?" Merlin asked suspiciously, looking between them.

"I have an offer for you, for both of you."

Arthur had a flush to his cheeks that told Merlin he'd been drinking while he'd helped set up for the party.

"What kind of offer?"

"A business offer. I couldn't say anything before, in case it didn't work out, but it's all settled now."

Merlin sipped at his drink, waiting for a full explanation.

"We're going to start a youth literacy centre," Arthur said, grinning.

Merlin looked between Arthur and Lance a few times, trying to figure out if this was some sort of cruel joke.

"'We' as in the Pendragon Centre for a Fair and Better London?" Merlin clarified. Arthur nodded his head. "Well, that's fucking great. At least now I know why you haven't followed through on your offer to help me and Lance. Good luck with it."

He turned to go back into the banquet hall, ready to go home and take his boiling rage out on a round of video games with Will. Someone grabbed his arm and he turned around to see Arthur right behind him. He tore his arm out of Arthur's grip and tried to look as menacing as possible, even as his anger was being overtaken by hurt and sadness that Arthur, his supposed friend, would screw him over like this.

"I'm trying to offer you a job," Arthur said calmly. "You can head up the new branch. The long-term goal is to have as much support available for youth as we have available for our other clients. Obviously it's going to take a few years, but-"

"But I already have a business starting up with Lance," Merlin said, trying his best not to shout. "We've taken out a loan and leased an office and approached a million places and people for funding-"

"I'll take care of all that," Arthur said quickly. "The Centre will pay off the loan and we'll use it to lease another office and then we'll have two sites already. We need... I'd really like to have you work on this," Arthur said, his voice low and serious. "I couldn't say anything about it before because I didn't want you to put your dream on hold in case the board couldn't agree on it, but they have agreed and I've recommended you for the director position already. And Lance," he added hastily, looking over at where Lance was standing awkwardly to the side, "you can have any role you want. I was thinking curriculum developer, but we can work out the details next week or in January, or whenever you two decide by. I know this is a lot to take in so suddenly, but there's no one else I would want working on this."

"You want me as a director?" Merlin asked slowly.

Arthur nodded. "You'd have my job, essentially, but for the youth branch."

Merlin turned to Lance, who was looking torn between excitement and disbelief. "What do you think is better, being one of the directors at the Centre or being executive director of my own organisation?" he asked, mostly to annoy Arthur.

He had thought that advancing so far at the Centre would take years, if not decades, and here was being offered his dream job at the company he already loved. He might not have as much freedom as he would if he was running his own organisation, but he would have a lot more support from experienced people, and he would still get to achieve his ultimate goal of helping local youth with their literacy skills.

The answer seemed obvious to him, but he felt like he needed to draw it out because of the scene he'd almost made, and because Arthur deserved it for being so withdrawn over the past weeks.

"I can guarantee you'd make more money if you stayed," Arthur said before Lance could respond. "And you wouldn't have to worry about the business loan."

Merlin kept his eyes on Lance, waiting for a signal from his partner that it was okay and that this was what they should be doing. Lance nodded weakly, looking slightly overwhelmed.

"We'll have to work out the details," Merlin said diplomatically, biting back a smile, "but it sounds like something we could seriously consider."

Arthur grinned, clearly seeing through Merlin's bullshit, and clapped both of them on the shoulders.

"Excellent. We can set up a meeting for next week and take care of all the immediate details straight away. You won't regret this, either of you. Leon and I have so much faith in your ability to lead us in the right direction."

"Leon and I will be on equal ground," Merlin said, a bit giddy. "He won't get to boss me around anymore."

"He never did that in the first place," Arthur pointed out. "But, actually, Leon will be your immediate supervisor."

Merlin frowned. "Why? I thought you said he was taking your job."

Arthur looked nervous for a moment before he turned to Lance and asked in a business-like tone, "Would you mind excusing us for a moment? There are a few things I need to explain."

Lance looked comically skeptical and Merlin blushed, knowing exactly what Lance was thinking about leaving the two of them alone. He finished off his drink and handed the empty glass to Lance, who shook Arthur's hand and went back into the banquet hall, giving Merlin a pointed look over his shoulder before the door closed behind him. Merlin turned slowly back to Arthur, his head spinning slightly with the sudden rush of sugar and alcohol from the cocktail.

"Leon's going to be an intermediary between me and all the directors," Arthur explained. "We're going to try it out for a few months and see if the structure works for us."

"Why?" Merlin asked.

"Well..." Arthur smiled shyly and looked down for a moment. Merlin tried to ignore the way his heart started pounding excitedly, but it was impossible, especially with Arthur standing so close. "Mostly because I didn't want it to be a problem if I started dating one of the directors."

Merlin tried to play it cool but he couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Which director?"

"Oh, any of them will do, don't you think?" Arthur teased.

"No, I think there's only one that will do." Merlin brushed his fingers over Arthur's arm, testing out the new boundaries between them.

"Which one is that?" Arthur asked, leaning closer.

"Morgana," Merlin murmured. He moved in for a kiss before Arthur could laugh, sliding his tongue against Arthur's bottom lip after a few seconds. He was past the point of wanting to take it slow and Arthur seemed to be on the same page because he opened his mouth at the first brush of Merlin's tongue and before Merlin knew what was happening, Arthur had him pushed up against the wall.

Merlin gave up control of his hands as Arthur kissed him, letting them move where they wanted because he didn't have any thoughts to spare about them. Arthur's lips were aggressive and needy and more than Merlin had ever hoped for.

When they pulled apart, Merlin was panting loudly and he found his hands under Arthur's shirt, clinging to the warm skin of his lower back. Arthur was flushed and grinning, his hair a mess that told of Merlin's wandering hands.

"Do you want to go back to the party?" Arthur asked innocently, his rough voice giving him away.

Merlin shook his head, unable to look away from the sight of Arthur breathless with want and staring at him like _he_ was the beautiful one.

"Me neither." Arthur's fingers tightened their grip and Merlin realized that Arthur was holding onto his hips, keeping him upright against the wall.

Merlin shifted slightly, trying to find his balance. "Should we wait-"

"Come home with me," Arthur spoke over him. "It's a ten-minute drive, at most."

Merlin nodded quickly, thoughts of waiting until their new positions were official out the window at the prospect of being in Arthur's bed so soon.

"How will we get past the party?"

"There's a back exit." Arthur held out his hand and Merlin took it without question, letting Arthur guide him to the end of the hallway, away from the banquet hall and down a dingy stairwell that led to the car park. "Leon told me about it," he explained, tugging Merlin toward his car.

"Does Leon know about... this?" Merlin asked, squeezing Arthur's hand in case there was any question what he was referring to.

"He's always known," Arthur said dismissively, unlocking the car.

They climbed inside and Arthur drove off before Merlin even had his seatbelt on.

"Lance has always known, too," Merlin said, grinning at the possibility that Arthur had wanted this just as long as he had. "They're never going to let us live this down."

"They're horrible enablers."

Merlin laughed and reached for the radio, hoping to hear some Christmas music to calm his nerves on the drive to Arthur's, but changed his mind half-way through the motion. He dropped his hand onto Arthur's leg instead, letting it slide high enough to feel Arthur's half-hard cock through his trousers.

"Fuck," Arthur breathed, shifting in the driver's seat.

"Soon enough," Merlin promised, giving Arthur's thigh a firm squeeze.

Arthur glanced over and gave him such a wondrous look that Merlin had to kiss him at the next red light, unable to keep his feelings or his own body to himself. He had never felt so wholly happy and alive before; he had his ultimate dream job, perfect friends, and an incredible and gorgeous man in the seat next to him, ready to take him home to start the holidays off with a proper bang.


End file.
